Economy/Resources - 214. page

Economic reforms in the past 30 years have moved over one third of farmers to non-agricultural jobs, said Xinhua on October 9, 2008 citing a recent survey of National Trade Union. There are about over 100 million farmers now working in the non-agricultural sectors. As of June 2008, 65 million of them are trade union members. The total trade union members amount to 209 million.

China’s home electric appliances industry is facing critical challenges as it sees large drop in production, sales, and export volume, Xinhua quoted Huo Dufang, President of China Household Electrical Appliances Association. “Some electric appliances such as Refrigerator, Air Conditioning, and Microwave had negative growth in the last two to three months” Huo said.

Due to the negative impact by world’s economy and currency factor, for the month of July, refrigerator production was 4.36 million units, down 14.3 percent from prior year; Freezer was 880,000 units and down 12.8 percent; Microwave down 6.55 percent. Total industry output was 408.3 billion yuan in the first seven months, down 10 points in growth rate compared with last year. Industry’s export volume was also hit hard by appreciation in yuan and weakened US dollars. A number of products including electric fan, electric heater, and microwave had negative growth of 21 percent, 11.9 percent, 2.1 percent in export volume respectively.

On September 28, 18.7 million cubic meters of water from two reservoirs in Hebei Province arrived in Beijing after 10 days of travel. This is part of China’s massive South-to-North Water Diversion Project which has been lasting for 5 years. By March 2009, an influx of 0.3 billion cubic meters of water will come from the neighboring province so as to provide a relief for the serious water shortage in the nation’s capital. The 300-cubic-meter per capita water consumption in Beijing is only 1/8 of the country’s average and 1/30 of world average, far below the United Nation’s standard of at least 1000 cubic meter.

The launch of Shenzhou 7 spacecraft serves as a milestone in the increase of China’s national power, said an editorial in the People’s Daily. China launched its third manned spacecraft on September 25, 2008 with three astronauts on board to attempt its first space walk. The People’s Daily editorial continuned that 30 years of reform have provided the guarantee for such a technologally advanced move. Shenzhou-7 blasted off on a Long March II-F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province.

The survey taken by the Bank of China suggested that only 13.3 percent of the residents living in the big cities intend to purchase residential homes in the next three months, the lowest since 1999. The number is down 1.8 points from last quarter and 2.8 points from the year before. The survey also showed that deposit in a bank savings account has become the top selection for surveyed residents in terms of the financial investment in light of the recent stock market crash. The survey indicates 42.8 percent predict that the consumer price will continue to increase.

Beijing’s real estate sales have significantly dropped as housing price continues to soar. Statistics show that sales were down 54 percent in August despite various promotional plans introduced by developers. Buyers are holding off the buying decision hoping prices will drop. Some experts predict that October will bring the volume of sales back up if there is a lucrative discount offered.